I Will Be the First by Courtney

I Will Be the First by Courtney - January 2018 Scholarship Essay

When asked to give one word to describe why I wish to attend college, my mind goes straight to the word “first”. Now many people might be confused by my choice. “First” can mean many different things. Well, the word “first” for me has a great meaning. It might be better understood when used in the term first generation student. Going to college means that I will be a first generation student.
I was raised by a single mom. A woman raising three kids all by herself and working hard everyday to ensure that she could give us all that she could. Us kids all have different dads and they were not always the most involved in our lives. My dad is the best out of the three yet my mom is the one that has mostly provided for my siblings and I. Raising three kids by yourself is never easy especially when you are in my mother’s shoes and only make around $30,000.
We all knew from the start that she could not afford to send us to college. My sister is the oldest and when she made it through high school she came out with the dream of becoming a dentist. She did not do the best in school so she did not receive many scholarships. As a result after her first year of college she was forced to drop out because the loans became overwhelming. My brother was not very motivated throughout his high school career. This partly could be due to the fact that my sister was unsuccessful in the end. When graduation day came he had no thoughts about college because it was so far out of reach. These two were my examples growing up. I had to make a decision on whether to follow in their footsteps or try and learn from their mistakes. I decided right from the start that I was going to change the tide and be the first in my family to graduate from college. Ever since then I have worked hard so that I could make my mom proud and earn my own way into college through scholarships. I do not want to end up like my sister and become overwhelmed by student loans. My dream is to earn an MBA so that I can provide for my family and pay back my mother for everything that she has done for me. The only way to make this dream a reality is if I can overcome the challenge of financial need and become the first in my family to earn a degree.